The Matchmakers
by PrincessZaraStar
Summary: She was loud and emotional; he was silent and unmoved. Everyone says that opposites attract, but sometimes they need a little push in the right direction. In this case, that push comes in the form of Bolin, Jinora, Ikki and Meelo. Makorra, of course.
1. Idea

**This is an idea I had inspired from that short scene in Episode 4 with Bolin complaining to Mako about Korra not showing up to practice.**

**I thought about it a bit, and before long, this story was born :).**

**Hope you enjoy!**

**This will progress as the series progresses.**

* * *

**Chapter 1: Idea**

"So, is Korra skipping practice again?"

I dropped the heavy dumbbell, creating a thud on the rubber gym floor, and plopped down beside my brother. Grabbing my glass of water, I gulped down half of the refreshing liquid and dumped the rest down my back to cool off. Beads of sweat formed on my forehead and I could literally feel the heat emitting from my body. Working out was tough.

"It seems so," he answered, jaw clenched. A sure sign that he was bothered by this turn of events.

Tossing the glass aside, I noticed his golden eyes lock onto the door, awaiting our friend impatiently. His brunette hair was still gelled to perfection, clothes unscathed and bearing no signs of his previous firebending. Anyone noticing this would conclude that he was either really good at bending or a freakish perfectionist. But I knew better.

I was the only one that heard his late-night rants about how much Korra was getting on his nerves, his constant requests for 'deep discussions' about dealing with her, and then there was the occasional, "What do _you _think about Korra?". There was no questioning that she was on his mind quite frequently. And it was reasonable that he tried to keep his appearance neat around her.

"You're not mad, are you Mako?" I inquired, fully knowing the answer to that one.

Calmly linking his hands together, he sent me a frown.

"No," he began, "No I'm not."

Pause for dramatic effect.

"Well, maybe a little…"

And there you have it.

"Our pro-bending match is coming up sooner than you think. We should be training extra hard, putting in everything we've got. And where's Korra? She's slacking off with Tarrlock's task force and missing practices left and right," he explained, sighing, "Sometimes I just don't understand her."

"Well, she _is_ the Avatar," I tried to help.

"Bolin, that doesn't excuse her from this. In fact, it's just all the more reason why she should be giving her all; she's got way more strength than normal benders."

I nodded in agreement with him, just to sympathize. Pro-bending was really important to Mako and anything that messed with it bothered him. Besides, he didn't open up that often.

"Hey guys! Sorry I'm late!"

Enter Korra. Shiny brown hair tied up in a high ponytail with two short ones framing her face, she strided in with a serious expression defining her features. Ice-blue eyes met gold and green, as if waiting for an answer.

"Korra!" I bounced over and gave her a hug, relived that she made it, "I'm so glad that you're here!"

"Nice to see you too, Bolin," she returned the embrace and gave me a friendly pat on the back, "So why are you guys sitting around? Shouldn't you be practicing?"

Mako stepped over and grunted a greeting, before slipping his pro-bending armor over his body suit.

"We were waiting for you," he replied simply, "Not that we were counting on your showing up."

Her eyebrow arched at this remark,

"What's that supposed to mean? Yes, I admit it; between airbending and Tarrlock's task force, it's been a little difficult to squeeze in practice time, but that doesn't mean I'm giving pro-bending any less effort."

"Whatever you say," he finished his protection gear by tying the red belt around his waist and left to the other side of the room where he proceeded to practice manipulating flames in an offensive way.

It was so obvious that he liked Korra. Why did he always have to act so cold around her? Why couldn't he just come clean and tell her the truth?

"_Well!_ You're one to talk Mako!" she yelled across to him, "You've been spending all your free time with that Asami girl and then drooling over her in practice! You're always distracted and your bending's gotten weaker."

Glaring back at her, the fire bursting from his fists grew larger and angrier,

"When have I ever 'drooled' over her during practice? And besides that, my bending's perfectly fine, contrary to yours. Why don't you give it up already and just practice harder?"

Aqua eyes flashing with rage, her mouth opened to shout her next retort at him, but I quickly stepped in to break it up,

"Korra, could you help me with my earthbending? I can't seem to get this one move right."

Sighing, she nodded, recoiled from her previous demeanor, and cast Mako one last poisonous glare before following me over to the earthbending area of the gym.

I knew for a fact that Korra liked Mako; I squealed it out of her previously, but had promised not to breathe a word. So if she liked him, then why was she always so…hotheaded around him?

Gosh, they were both equally stubborn. If someone didn't step in soon, they might never get together.

And man, I really didn't want that Asami girl as my sister-in-law. She brought out such a fakeness in Mako; it's disgusting.

However, matchmaking might not be such a good idea. I listened to a radio show about people who hooked couples up and ended up with disastrous results.

Still, it was only an idea. I probably wouldn't act on it or anything…


	2. Babysitting

**Chapter 2: Babysitting**

"We cannot thank you enough, Bolin," Tenzin, Korra's airbending teacher, said to me as he shut the front door behind us. Adjusting his traditional red and yellow airbending robes, he placed a delicate hand behind his pregnant wife's back and led her gently down the steps.

"We really appreciate it," agreed Pema, his wife, "Since Korra's off with Tarrlock this evening, we were worried about getting someone to watch the kids…"

"Oh don't worry about it," I smiled, and carelessly waved their words away with my hand, "I've watched kids for neighbors countless times; it's no biggie."

"Thanks again," she smiled, "Oh and just remember: Jinora knows the bedtimes by heart; if you need to know, just ask her. Ikki might pester you for candy, please tell her no. And Meelo…just watch him extra carefully, okay? Oh yes, and keep him away from electrical outlets."

"And my 200 year old manuscripts," Tenzin added, stroking his pointy-ish brown beard, "Also, no radio for anyone. It's not good to be filling their heads with that nonsense at their age. Or any age for that matter."

"Yes, Sir. Yes M' am," I nodded seriously, "I won't let you down."

"Well, have fun!" Pema sang, waving goodbye.

"And don't break anything." Tenzin warned darkly, doing the 'I'm watching you' gesture with two fingers.

"And have fun!"

Never in my life had I felt so worried.

After watching the married couple climb into the ferry and ride away to Republic City, I sighed in preparation for my night of babysitting on Air Temple Island and turned around to open the door. Pushing it tentatively, the hinges screamed, only silence heard from inside. Wondering whether that was a good thing or a bad thing, I swung the door open forcefully. And, as luck would have it, I heard a loud banging noise right before I realized that I was dripping wet and there was a bucket covered in water droplets at my feet. The first prank of the night.

And let the chaos ensue.

Jinora was reading a book on the couch, paying no attention to Ikki, who was dancing around like a manic, the floor around her littered with candy wrappers and Meelo, whose fingers were dangerously close to an electrical outlet. With old, crumpled papers shredded in pieces around him. The manuscripts.

My jaw dropped flat on the ground in horror at this sight. What was I going to do? What would Mako do? What would Tenzin do? Tenzin! What would Tenzin say! What would Pema say? Would they let me babysit again? I needed to do something and quick! In spite of these rapid thoughts flooding my brain, all I could do was stand there and just watch the insaneness take place. Until-

"Bowling Ball! It's you!" squealed a young voice.

Ikki.

When we were first introduced, she heard my name wrong and thought it was 'Bowling' instead of 'Bolin'. Hence the Bowling Ball. She's been calling me that ever since.

"Oh my goodness, we've been talking about this all day! We're all really excited that you're here! Do you like marshmallows? I know I do! They're, like, the most delicious-est thing ever and so sug-Ooo! Here's another marshmallow! I knew I had more! Say do you want one? Wow, why are you looking at us like that? Stop it, it's creeping me out!"

Snapping back to reality, I realized that she was standing right in front of me, her big fawn eyes overflowing with an abundance of energy and her head was cocked to one side in a curious position. A suspicious sugar-y powder coated her mouth and her hands were grasping a shiny wrapper that once housed a candy. Tawny-brown hair tucked up into buns on both sides of her head and airbending robes similar to Tenzin's, she was the very picture of mischief.

I cracked a smile before calling her by my own nickname, "Sorry Panda," I apologized, noting the way that her buns looked like ears of the famous bears, "I'm just a little overwhelmed," I paused to point at her wrapper, "You know, your mother said not to eat any candy. Did she tell you that?"

"Shh!" she brought a finger to her lips seriously, "It's a secret!"

"No Ikki," I leaned down a placed my rough hand on her shoulder gently, "It's not a secret. You shouldn't disobey your mother, now please pick up the wrappers and put the candy away."

"Joy-kill," she muttered, slumping away to clean up the wrappers.

Sighing, I analyzed the room to figure out the next urgent situation.

Oh right.

Meelo.

Fingers only a hair away from touching the outlet, I burst forward to stop him. The world around me seemed to fall into slow motion as my arm extended outwards to grab his hand.

"No, no, no, no, no!" I scolded pulling the tiny child away from the dangerous outlet, "That's not a very good idea."

Meelo responded by climbing onto my shoulders and gnawing at my head.

"Ow!" I cried, "Don't do that! Sheesh," I peeled him off and stuck him on the floor in front of me.

Big, blue eyes stared up at me.

I stared back at them sternly.

Then Meelo's whole face crumpled and streams of tears slid down his cheeks as loud, whiney sobs followed.

WHAT DO I DO?

"Meelo, Meelo, Meelo!" I waved my hands around, trying to get the sobbing kid to calm down.

"Y-you're...mean!" he sniffled, face wet with tears.

He proceeded to run over to Jinora, climb on top of her, and hide behind a pillow on the couch.

"Meelo," she said calmly, "Get off me, please."

"Bolin's mean," he whimpered, lower lip quivering.

"Hey, I'm not mean!" I told him, lightheartedly, "Although I do cook a _mean _Sea Prune Stew!"

Both children just looked at me with disgust.

"Yucky!" Meelo announced.

Jinora diverted her eyes back to her book.

"That's nice Bolin," she half-heartedly smiled, wrinkling her nose at the very thought.

Seriously? Sea Prune Stew was the best! These kids obviously didn't know what they were missing out on. Oh well.

I exhaled and mentally congratulated myself on getting this far without losing my sanity. These kids were a handful, that's for sure. I should've considered myself lucky to have even made it this far.

And I did. Until-

"I-DON'T-FEEL-SO-GOOD!" Ikki screamed, dizzily ambling over while clutching her stomach. She spoke in an obnoxiously loud, short breathed tone. "I-probably-shouldn't've..eaten so much..._candy._.." Thrown off balance at this point, she grabbed at a nearby coffee table in attempt to steady herself. In the process, she managed to knock over a picture frame, decorated in elaborate gold designs. It toppled to the hard-wood floor and burst into a billion pieces.

Gosh. Hope that wasn't important.

"Oh no!" Jinora slammed her book down on the couch and jumped up to examine the damage, "That was Mother and Father's wedding picture!"

"It was?" I asked in a timid voice. I was a dead duck of a babysitter now. Ikki ate candy. Meelo destroyed the manuscripts. Tenzin and Pema _might've_ forgiven me for those things. But now?

"Oh sorry about that," the sheepish Ikki apologized, words still going 100 mph, "I'm sure Mother and Father won't mind. It was _only _a picture."

Meelo crawled off the couch and tip-toed over the broken frame, as if pretending that he was a spy or something. Pointing at the damage, he shook his head and frowned,

"Favorite picture. Dad's favorite."

_Goodbye world. I'm dead now. It was nice knowing all of you. Mako, thanks for being the best brother a guy could ever have, Korra thanks for-_

"We have to fix it." Jinora exclaimed as she gathered the pieces into her petite arms, "This is their only wedding picture. If we can just fix the frame, no one will ever notice a thing."

"I'll help," I offered, desperate to do anything that would get the title of 'bad babysitter' away from my name. "Where's the glue?"

"Above the radio!" Ikki sang, "Daddy likes to keep it there because he doesn't like it when we use glue and he thinks that a high place will stop us from reaching it. Buuuuut!" she lowered her voice a little and mischief entered her brown eyes, "Meelo and I grabbed a chair last week to get it and we used it to glue the vase that we broke back together! And no one ever knew!" She proudly puffed out her chest and smiled in a stately manner, "We are awesome!"

"Yeah!" Meelo threw his fist in the air in agreement.

"Right," I nodded slowly, wondering if I should reprimand them about that. Probably.

And of course I didn't.

After retrieving the glue, we worked together to somehow put the pieces of the picture back together. Although the end result looked like something between a rock and a broken statue. In short, something that Tenzin's uncle, Sokka, would make. Convinced that our effort was the best it was going to get, we placed it back on the table and sighed in relief.

"Let's not do that again," I begged, my hands still shaking in nervousness.

"Okay!" Ikki said, grinning profusely, "So I guess I shouldn't tell you about the statue that I broke while you were saving Meelo from the outlet?"

Back to square 1. Again.

* * *

"Didn't Mother and Father look so romantic in the picture?" Jinora asked softly, handing me another finger to glue back to the statue's hand.

I thought back to the picture, remembering the youthful couple smiling and laughing in each other's arms in their wedding clothes. Pema's brunette locks curled gracefully around her face and her dress was breathtakingly exquisite. Her husband, Tenzin, was stunning in his sleek-black tuxedo, evenly matching his wife's beauty. The photographer had definitely captured a joyful moment and froze it into a picture for Tenzin and Pema to enjoy for the rest of their lives.

"Yeah. They did," I nodded, accepting the finger.

The ten-year-old airbender stared dreamily into space as a slight smile crossed her lips,

"I want my wedding to look like that."

"Well too bad, so sad!" Ikki ejaculated, gesturing to me, "You'll have to wait Jinora, because Bowling Ball's older and he'll get married before you!" turning to face me, she beamed curiously, "You like a girl, right Bowling Ball?"

"Well..." I trailed, diverting my eyes to the orange hues of the setting sun streaming through the window above us.

I did have quite a few fangirls, however I wouldn't say that I liked any of them like _that_. Korra came to mind, but she liked Mako and it was completely obvious that they had feelings for each other. In fact, now that they were brought up, I still had to figure out a plan to get those two together. Maybe plan a dinner date or something? I could invite them and then just _slip out to go to the "bathroom"._..

"Earth to Bowling Ball!" Ikki waved her tiny hand in front of my face as if to wake me from a trance, "Come in Bowling Ball!"

"Uh, sorry," I snapped back to reality and shook my head in attempt to rid my brain of the previous thoughts, "What were you saying?"

"Do you have a girlfriend?"

"Ikki!" Jinora scolded, "That's personal! You can't ask just anyone that!"

"Nono, it's fine," I smiled in assurance at the older before turning to the younger, "I don't have a girlfriend, no. I don't really have feelings for anyone right now."

Meelo's big, blue eyes stared right through me as if I was transparent,

"What's...girlfriend?"

Ikki smirked and her brown eyes grew wider with each word that she spoke,

"It's when a boy loves a girl and then they date and get married and act all lovey-dovey forever and ever and ever!" she whipped back to me, "But you don't have a girlfriend. That's sad. Oh hey, does your firebender brother have one?"

Slightly bothered at her phrase of, 'That's sad,' I pushed it back and allowed a confused expression to enter my face,

"Who? Mako? Oh yeah, he likes Korra! Oh gosh," I instantly covered my mouth the moment those words escaped, "You didn't hear that from me. Okay?"

Of course not.

"_No way!_" Ikki pounced onto the subject like an eager lion, "Mako likes Korra? That's so cute! They're going to fall in love and get married and have kids and then be old and die! Together." Smiling dreamily, she twirled and clapped her hands together excitedly, "How romantic!"

Jinora peered quizzically at me,

"Is that true? Does Mako really like Korra?"

Mentally smacking myself on the forehead, I slowly nodded and silently hoped that Mako wouldn't kill me,

"Yeah, but they fight a lot, so I don't know if they'll ever get together. He'll probably stick with Asami."

_Yuck..._

"Together!" Meelo whined, fidgeting with a piece of the stone statue, before Jinora gently plucked it from his fingers.

"Meelo's right!" Ikki took a stand and went into speech mode, "It's not fair for Bowling Ball to be alone, but it's even worse for Mako and Korra!"

And what did she hope to prove with that?

"So we should totally get them together! Like, help them fall in love! There's all kinds of awesome stuff we can do!"

"You know," Jinora spoke up quietly, "Ikki may have an idea there. We could get them together easily, but subtly; you know, make sure they don't find out and stuff."

"I don't know you guys," I shook my head, "If they find out, it won't be pretty and besides that, there's always your father to consider. He's a little protective of you."

"_Together!_" Meelo said a little more forcefully.

"Please Bowling Ball?" Ikki begged, hands folded, "Please please please please please please please please please please please please please?"

"I don't know..."

"We have our ways with my father," Jinora added, "we could make it work. It would be really nice to see Mako and Korra finally together. I mean, they're both so stubborn."

She took the words right out of my mouth.

"Alright," I consented, "We can do it. But we have to be super careful about it, okay? No one can find out about this. _No one_. Understood?"

Three nodding heads answered the question.

"Okay then, here's what I was thinking..."

And as we finished cleaning up the statue, we devised our first plan.

* * *

_Finally! I've finally written that whole thing out! For some reason, that was really hard. O.o Just to let you guys know, the first two chapters are kind of a prolouge-type-thing for all of their *cough* evil *cough* plans :) _

_Special thanks to Lord Of The Plushies, ArcaneHex77, DragonFang2011, Fre, and the-lioness for reviewing the first chapter! :) Yay! Thanks so much! *gives cyber cookies*_

_Oh! One last side note: Bolin is not crushing on Korra like he is in Canon._

_Hope you enjoyed! Feedback is appriciated! :)_


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